Love Long Lost
by MC Bossk and DJ-88
Summary: On a trip to Bunny Burrow with Judy to attend a wedding involving one of her many brothers, Nick begins to think about the past. Specifically about a summer love that happened long ago and is perhaps long lost.
**Title:** Love Long Lost

 **Description:** On a trip to Bunny Burrow with Judy to attend a wedding involving one of her many brothers, Nick begins to think about the past. Specifically about a summer love that happened long ago and is perhaps long lost.

 **Rating:** K

 **Note:** _I went around on a man-hunt to search out any literary content to sate my craving for the ship after seeing the movie, only to find that there is none (or at least none that I have been able to find). Granted I have come across several images of the pairing, but it seems that the furry community is far too focused on the "WildeHopps" ship to provide any story-based content for Nick Wilde/Gideon Gray. I post this in an effort to provide diversity, and to fulfill my part of Rule 34. Please enjoy the story._ _ **P.S.**_ _\- I posted this also on FurAffinity so no one needs to go cry, "Hey look, someone stole your story!"_

 **Disclaimer:** This is a work of fiction that derives no profit of any kind. All characters and locations mentioned within are not owned by I, but by the creators of _Zootopia_ , and the company Disney.

… **o0O0o…**

Nick struggled to keep his eyes open as the train continued on its journey from Zootopia to its current destination of Bunny Burrow. The rocking of the train, the warmth of the mid-morning sun on his fur, and an otherwise empty train cabin made for one overly pleasant trip. It was near perfect. With the exception for the anxious bunny next to him chatting up his ear, oblivious to her fairly tired companion's attempts at ignoring her. Not that he had anything against Judy Hopps, but even though he forgave her under the old bridge he never did fully get over the incident and while she did improve dramatically from her preconceptions he still couldn't bring himself to forget about it. But they at least remained friends, not exactly whatever kind of friendship they were developing before, but it was still good enough in his eyes and he enjoyed it for what it was. Even though they still technically were working opposite sides of the law. That however did not stop Judy from attempting to patch things up completely, which was why he was on a train heading for her home town to attend a wedding of one of her many brothers. Nick remembers, vaguely, that the reason this is such a big deal is because her brother, his name escapes the fox, was getting married to a male bunny. Apparently such things were not common among bunnies.

' _With so many of them you'd think it'd be more common, who knew?'_ Nick mused to himself.

This brings him back to his current predicament. He glances at Judy as she is excitedly gesturing rapidly while explaining individually the thousands, and he does mean _thousands_ , of details involved in the wedding before going back to staring out the window at the rapidly passing countryside, it was at least another three hours until they reached Bunny Burrow. While tempted as he was to overdramatically bang his head against the window from the non-stop chatter from his little bunny friend, he instead began to daydream. Specifically, he day dreamed about Bunny Burrow itself. He never did tell Judy, half because it never came up and half because he didn't want the millions of questions it would generate, that he has in fact been to her home town once before many summers ago back when he was but a kit. He smiled as he remembered the sound of tall grasses rustling in a gentle breeze, the smell of flowers perfuming the air, puffy white clouds dotting the clear blue sky, and breathtaking sunsets that found the fox underneath an apple tree overlooking a still pond. It had only been a single month out of his summer, but it was the most wonderful month of his entire life without exaggeration.

Then of course, there was his summer crush.

' _Well…'_ he thought as he yawned and leaned his forehead against the warm window, _'…I think it was a crush… I wonder if he's still there, if he even remembers me…'_

" _Come on Nick its right over here!" Came a voice far to 9 year old Nick's right. The young fox pushed passed several bushes and climbed a short hill until he came to a tall tree and under it, silhouetted against one of the best sunsets Nick has seen yet is his new friend. "Come 'ere Nick, look at this." The fox walked over to him and they both sat down at the base of the tree, Nick's mouth had yet to close from the breathtaking sight of the already beautiful sunset reflecting off a mirror-like pond._

" _Wow… I've never seen anything like this before, it's amazing." He whispered in what he thought was to himself._

" _Sure is, found it when I was lookin' fer berries I reckon two years ago." His smiled faded though and he brought his knees up under his chin the best he could as he gazed out over the water. "Travis don't care much for it though, says it ain't nothin' special." Nick looks over at his slightly taller companion with shock._

" _But it's sooo cool!" His friend's eyes are downcast now and Nick couldn't help but try and think of something that would cheer up the other. Then he struck on an idea. "You know…" the other didn't even look over at the kit; his ears pressed firmly against his head, "He might have been right." This cause the other to turn and look at him in hurt surprise. That was right before Nick leaned over and up and kissed him right on the cheek. As he pulled back he said,_

" _Because I think you're a lot more amazing." The response wasn't immediate but Nick smiled like a maniac anyway because although he couldn't see it under the fur, he was sure that his friend was blushing all the way from his neck to the tip of his ears. This proved true when he seemed to recover from his initial shock and began to rub the back of his neck, his ears twitching this way and that as he tried to stumble out a response all the while a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth._

" _Awww shucks Nick," he finally said, "that's awful kind of you." He then leaned over and gave Nick a firm hug which the other readily returned. Eventually Nick settled at his side, his head on the other's shoulder while his friend had his arm wrapped around Nick, his head also leaning down on Nick's. Together they watched the sunset fully, and under a full moon lit night, they both shared their first kiss._

 _Other images came forward to Nick's mind. An especially cool day that found both laid down on a checkered picnic cloth in an open field flying kites they had made together. A game of hide and seek in the woods near his friend's house. The two skinny dipping in the pond. Nick sneaking into his friend's bedroom late at night because the other was grounded for the weekend._ "Nick." _A sleepover spent inside a fort made of blankets and pillows._ "Nick." _A tearful goodbye the day before Nick has to leave for home because Gideon can't be there to say goodbye then because of a cousin's birthday._ "Nick." _One last kiss and sunset beneath the tree…_

" _NICK._ " A near yell and a shove to his side woke him up from his sleep, he looking frantically around before his eyes settled on the miffed looking bunny beside him. The 25 year old fox stretched and relaxed before giving Judy a (falsely) apologetic smile.

"Sorry carrots, I must've fallen asleep. You were saying?" She gave him a quick glare before going back to talking about the wedding, apparently she had gone on from talking about decorations to who was invited. Back they were to how they had been originally for the first hour of the trip. Looking briefly at his phone the vulpine internally groaned…

He had only been asleep for thirty minutes.

Nick slouched back into his uncomfortable seat, the sun now hidden behind a cloud and the cabin having apparently filled up with more mammals from several stops. Instead of sleep he instead settled with faking interest in what Judy had to say for the rest of the trip. All the while he remembered a cute red fox with puffy cheeks and a round belly from too many sweets, a silly haircut, dirtied blue overalls, and a country twang voice. All the while, he thought of one Gideon Grey.

… **o0O0o…**

Constructive criticism is always appreciated! I have been writing for years but improvement can always be made and I am far from perfect.

Leave a comment of what you think below, please and thank you.


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